Sept 25 (Reuters) - Hosting duties for the National Basketball Association's 2015 All-Star Game will be shared between the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, the league said on Wednesday. The newly renovated Madison Square Garden, home to the Knicks, will host the midseason exhibition on Feb. 15 while the $1 billion Barclays Center, which opened a year ago and is home to the Nets, will showcase the popular slam dunk contest and the weekend's other events. The announcement...

Jim Valente and Bryan Fretwell aren't in the lineups for Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, but each is a celebrity in his own way. As part of the hoops-and-hoopla weekend at Cleveland's Gund Arena, Florida real estate developer Valente will get one three-point attempt for $1 million. Like contests ranging from NBA players' slam-dunk, three-point shooting and rookies game, Valente's effort will be televised. It's scheduled at about 7:15 p.m. Saturday on TNT, after the rookies. ...

Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway and other former NBA standouts were selected as finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The 12 finalists were announced Friday during NBA All-Star weekend in Houston. The 2013 class will be selected at the Final Four in April. Joining Payton and Hardaway on the list were Mitch Richmond, Maurice Cheeks, Spencer Haywood, Bernard King, Guy Lewis, Rick Pitino, Jerry Tarkanian, Tom Heinsohn, Sylvia Hatchell and Dawn Staley. Payton is considered...

Leave them wanting more, Tyrus Thomas. "What I would advise any rookie is don't do your best dunk first," said Kris Bruton. "As you get to the final rounds, that's when you can try some things that you've been working on to [wow] the crowd." Just a little wisdom from Bruton, an ex-Bull and master-dunking Harlem Globetrotter. Thomas, the Bulls rookie, will try to show off some aerial acrobatics in Saturday's NBA slam dunk contest. But he'll get some competition from rivals Dwight Howard,...

By Kayon Raynor KINGSTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The world's best basketballers have little hope of catching him in a race up the court and now Jamaican Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt is getting to ready to show them he can jump as well when he appears at the NBA's All-Star weekend in Houston. Bolt was invited to play in the Celebrity Game, featuring a mixture of well-known people from all walks of life, including some former NBA players at the showcase...

Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway and other former NBA standouts were selected as finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The 12 finalists were announced Friday during NBA All-Star weekend in Houston. The 2013 class will be selected at the Final Four in April. Joining Payton and Hardaway on the list were Mitch Richmond, Maurice Cheeks, Spencer Haywood, Bernard King, Guy Lewis, Rick Pitino, Jerry Tarkanian, Tom Heinsohn, Sylvia Hatchell and Dawn Staley. Payton is considered...

ESPN.com reports that New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin will be part of the NBA All-Star weekend, with sources saying he will "assist" teammate Iman Shumpert in the slam-dunk competition. Should the NBA have figured out a way to get Lin into the All-Star action? K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune Yes. But if he's added as an injury replacement to the real game, that's an issue and a mockery. Granted, Lin is the biggest story thus far this season. And his...

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Hosting duties for the National Basketball Association's 2015 All-Star Game will be shared between the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, the league said on Wednesday. The newly renovated Madison Square Garden, home to the Knicks, will host the midseason exhibition on Feb. 15 while the $1 billion Barclays Center, which opened a year ago and is home to the Nets, will showcase the popular slam dunk contest and the weekend's other events. The announcement...

There were high expectations surrounding The Blackout party at The Shrine (not to mention an athlete-heavy guest list), but that's nothing new when LeBron James is involved. Everywhere James, the party's host, goes suddenly becomes the place to be, and Thursday night, that place was in the South Loop. Long lines to get in? Check. Athletes towering over club patrons almost everywhere you looked? Check. Scantily clad groupies? Check. Check. Add in a midnight appearance by...

There were high expectations surrounding The Blackout party at The Shrine (not to mention an athlete-heavy guest list), but that's nothing new when LeBron James is involved. Everywhere James, the party's host, goes suddenly becomes the place to be, and Thursday night, that place was in the South Loop. Long lines to get in? Check. Athletes towering over club patrons almost everywhere you looked? Check. Scantily clad groupies? Check. Check. Add in a midnight appearance by...

You could go home again. That is, if home were still there. "A lot of the apartment complexes we lived in when I was a kid have been totaled," said Bulls guard Chris Duhon, a New Orleans native whose mother moved Chris and his brother 11 times in their childhood to find places to live and to keep the kids out of trouble. "She always had money issues. At times we didn't have electricity, things like that. "But I think now of how many people I grew up around who were more talented than...

Michael Jordan may just need a new nickname. Call him "the Bomber." The man they call "Air," the most famous dunker in National Basketball Association history, is going to participate in the 3-point shooting contest instead of the slam-dunk contest next month during the NBA All-Star weekend in Miami. "Hey, I`m getting old, I`ve got to save my legs," he said. Jordan, who didn`t take part in the dunking contest last season after winning it the previous two years, will be...

Demetri McCamey and Ceola Clark, two playmakers of contrasting styles, were needling one another during the City-Suburban Showdown news conference Wednesday at a downtown restaurant. Clark, a 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound maestro who conducts Warren's offense with the quickness and guile of a traditional point guard, was talking about his close friendship with Loyola's Jeff Jordan and Lincoln Park's Michael Thompson. "We call ourselves `The Trio,"' Clark said proudly. The affable McCamey,...

Thursday was Khalid El-Amin's time to be surprised. At 5 feet 10 inches and 195 pounds, the not-so-classically built point guard has spent his entire career silencing doubters who question his ability. Validation that El-Amin is making the transition to a level many said he would never reach arrived in the form of an invitation to the Rookie Challenge game Feb. 10 during NBA All-Star weekend in Washington. El-Amin is averaging 7.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 turnovers in 21.5 minutes a...

Leave them wanting more, Tyrus Thomas. "What I would advise any rookie is don't do your best dunk first," said Kris Bruton. "As you get to the final rounds, that's when you can try some things that you've been working on to [wow] the crowd." Just a little wisdom from Bruton, an ex-Bull and master-dunking Harlem Globetrotter. Thomas, the Bulls rookie, will try to show off some aerial acrobatics in Saturday's NBA slam dunk contest. But he'll get some competition from rivals Dwight Howard,...

Return of the Magic Man: Magic Johnson's comeback last week was awesome. And it was all made possible because people have learned so much more about AIDS and HIV. Magic, who is HIV-positive, jumped out of the game a few years ago when other NBA players were freaked about his possibly infecting them. One of the loudest voices about that concern was Utah's Karl Malone. Karl's take on it now? It's all OK because of what we know about the virus. By the way, even though...

And now back to your regularly scheduled season. Mercifully. Yes, some of us are getting so jaded about this NBA All-Star weekend, extravaganza, corporate marketing fair--including the players for most of the evening--that we may prefer curling. Our hair. "It's not the NBA Finals, it's not even a regular-season game," NBA Commissioner David Stern counseled the morose among us. "It's the All-Star Game, it's a celebration of talent, speed, grace. Let's have some fun."

ESPN.com reports that New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin will be part of the NBA All-Star weekend, with sources saying he will "assist" teammate Iman Shumpert in the slam-dunk competition. Should the NBA have figured out a way to get Lin into the All-Star action? K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune Yes. But if he's added as an injury replacement to the real game, that's an issue and a mockery. Granted, Lin is the biggest story thus far this season. And his...

There was one of those "we hear" reports in a local newspaper the other day that Michael Jordan was renting a local warehouse to turn into a private nightclub for NBA All-Star Weekend. Another report had a hotel spokesman denying a rumor that Jordan had booked an entire floor. Where's Michael and what is he doing? All-Star Weekend is a good time to consider all this, with the NBA trying to promote young stars like LeBron James and the next biggest thing, Dwyane Wade, often called...